Want to upgrade to Xfce 4.18 on Ubuntu 22.04 or 22.10? Packages added to the Xubuntu QA Staging PPA mean you can now do exactly that.
Not that you’re supposed to, though 😅.
See, while the Xubuntu QA Staging PPA does enable you to upgrade to Xfce 4.18 it’s not a repo meant for regular folks, and usage of it is at users’ own risk. Packages distributed through this PPA have no guarantees or promise of stability, and they may be removed or replaced at any moment, without warning.
That said, you can choose to use this PPA to install Xfce 4.18 on Ubuntu 22.04 or 22.10. I upgraded to Xfce 4.18 using this PPA and hit no major issues during my (somewhat brief) hands-on. Your milage will vary, but by using a PPA to upgrade you can use PPA Purge to downgrade back to your release’s original Xfce build if things go rogue.
Even so: if you do this do it knowing it’s not advised. And before running any commands at all make a backup of any important files, configs, and settings to a different device or cloud service.
Warnings out of the way, let’s get to the actual tutorial bit.
How to Upgrade to Xfce 4.18 on Ubuntu
To upgrade to Xfce 4.18 on (x)Ubuntu 22.04 LTS or (x)Ubuntu 22.10 you should ideally already have the xubuntu-desktop meta-package installed. If you don’t do consider installing it first. While you can do it after adding the PPA below, I didn’t test it that way so can’t give any assurances.
The process is simple: add the Xfce QA Staging PPA to your software sources; run a system update; proceed to ‘upgrade’; reboot, and enjoy.
To add the PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:xubuntu-dev/staging
Then update:
sudo apt update
Then upgrade:
sudo apt dist-upgrade
Note: if you don’t already used Xfce you need to install the xubuntu-desktop meta-package.
When everything is downloaded, unpacked, and installed to the correct locations you’re free to go ahead and reboot. I recommend keeping your fingers crossed during this process but on a purely technical level this won’t affect anything.
Once your system reboots proceed to login and (assuming all went well) enjoy the Xfce 4.18 desktop experience. Depending on which other desktop environment you use you may need to select an ‘xubuntu’ or ‘xfce’ session at the login screen before logging in.